The stranded men spent almost six weeks severely deprived of food and water and were close to death when they were rescued by a group of local Aboriginal fishermen on 22 June.

The group comprised pilot Hans Bertram, co-pilot Thom, mechanic Adolph Klausmann and cameraman Alexander von Lagorio, and was intended to find potential markets for Germany's aviation industry as well as a goodwill tour visiting German communities along the route.

After arriving in Jakarta, it was agreed that Bertram and Klausmann would continue flying down the Indonesian archipelago and on to Australia, while Thom and von Lagorio would travel separately and the four would rendezvous in Shanghai, China.

They had put down on the Kimberley coast, hundreds of kilometres west of the intended destination; while they guessed that they had landed somewhere on Melville Island, north of Darwin, they were actually at Cape St Lambert (14°20′1.2″S 127°46′45.4″E / 14.333667°S 127.779278°E / -14.333667; 127.779278), just north of the mouth of the Berkeley River on the western coastline of the Joseph Bonaparte Gulf and about 370 kilometres (230 mi) south-west of Melville Island.

They managed to get airborne but were forced to land again in another bay about 35 kilometres (22 mi) away, their engine cutting out as the plane ran out of fuel and rolled up a small beach.

After seven days of walking a more inland route, and without water, clothes or footwear, and ravaged by mosquitoes and completely exhausted they arrived back at the seaplane.

Now thirteen days into the ordeal, the pair drained the radiator of the remaining water and removed one of the seaplane floats to use as a makeshift kayak and started paddling in a westerly direction.

The shortened float was not as seaworthy as previously used, so they only got a few kilometres before deciding it was too dangerous to continue and they returned to shore where they found shelter under a rock ledge at Cape Bernier.

On 13 June a foot search by native trackers found a cigarette case bearing the initials "HB" and a handkerchief which were handed to a missionary passing in a boat.

The details of the location were vague however and a malfunctioning telegraph delayed the information getting to the correct authorities; when it eventually did the land search was resumed with increased vigour.

In 1985, a four-part television miniseries named Flight into Hell based on Hans Betram's book was made by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation.

[18] The aviators' experiences and rescue by Aboriginal people (identified as Balanggarra) were referenced in a solo expedition by Australian adventurer Michael Atkinson in 2018.

With permission of the Balanggarra landowners, he spent four weeks sailing and trekking the same area with no more supplies or survival equipment (apart from a satellite tracker for personal safety) than was available to the German aviators.